In the 1980s, Toyota began its most audacious push into the high-end side of the car world, racing V8 prototypes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and designing V8 Lexus sedans to take over America. But while that was happening, the company was also working on a little four-cylinder that would become arguably its greatest…

You ever wonder what a race-bred, almost 1000-horsepower, twin-turbo Mercedes 5.0-liter V8 sounds like? It sounds like rage and fury and everything nice. It sounds like NASCAR on amphetamines. It’s the Mercedes-Benz C11, and it’s perfect.

The 3.5 liter, 640 horsepower Mercedes ‘M291' 180-degree 12 cylinder engine died twice: first when it repeatedly failed on the race track, and second when the entire racing series it was designed for came to an end.

Group C was one of the greatest eras in racing history, producing the fastest cars to ever run the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The story of how it died was, sadly, one that it should have seen coming.

The 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans was a landmark race, if for nothing else that it was the last year that the monstrous Mulsanne straight was unencumbered. After 1989, two chicanes were installed, slowing it down. But for this last glorious year, cars screamed at almost 250 miles an hour at Le Mans.

Students of history will remember how Porsche came to dominate the legendary Group C era: the Porsche 956/962 was totally reliable and Porsche built a gazillion of them, outlasting all of its faster, more fragile rivals for nearly a decade. The first such car was the turbo Ferrari-powered Lancia LC2, a car too fast to…

A good morning to us all, for today is the most sacred of holidays and traditions. Today is, of course, Group C-smas, the day when we celebrate all that is wonderful from the world of Group C and GT1 racing. First up is the simply perfect bellow emanating from this Sauber Mercedes C11.

The Saleen S7 is a mystifying car, a $375,000 American mid-engine supercar that sprung up out of nowhere in the year 2000. But what if it wasn’t exactly nowhere? Acting on a tip, I spent months trying to figure out the S7’s true origins. And I’m still not sure what to think.

This year certainly wasn’t the first time Porsche won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Want your very own overall Le Mans-winning Porsche? Look no further! The 1982 Porsche 956 that won the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans overall—chassis 956-003—goes up for auction at Pebble Beach this year.

Group C cars are basically closed cockpit Formula-1 cars that had to run for 24 hours at full throttle before the party ended in 1994. These Le Mans veterans are the coolest, and I've never been so close to them before. Warning: I came back with tons of pictures!

[The 1991 Gebhardt-Cosworth C91 full on at the 73rd Goodwood Members' Meeting. Originally an IMSA car, it raced twice in Group 3 in 1992. We all know what was it missing today. Photo credit: Máté Petrány/Jalopnik]

The earliest XJ220s are past their 23rd birthday by now, and throughout all those years, it wasn't Jaguar who kept them alive, but Don Law Racing. Meet the father and son behind the amazing garage that went racing and built the ultimate XJ220, the LM.

The Porsche 962 is one of the most iconic race cars to come out of the 1980s, with versions competing in both IMSA GTP and the World Sportscar Championship's Group C. However, race cars typically need some cajoling to get going properly. Here is the list of start-up procedures for the 962.

The thing about race weekends is that you normally don't just get one race, you get a lot of little support races. One of those tends to be a "Legends" race, where heroes of years past take some laps around the track. It's supposed to be nice and congenial. Until the cars get destroyed.

Welcome, friends and family, to Group C-smas! What is Group C-smas, you ask? Why, it's a holiday of festive fun and cheer of course! Also, it's Christmas, so we're going to just bring you awesome videos of Group C and GT1 Le Mans racing all day. Yeah, this really is the Best Christmas Ever.

I am not sure how unpopular of an opinion it is, but Group B seems to be the more popular of the two around these parts. But I have always though Group C was just more badass. I guess I am going to rant real quick like.

Here's a few videos proving my point. These cars don't have fancy tuned exhaust noises. What you're hearing is the sound of raw power, with some of these cars edging on 1000bhp. Your ears will thank you. I know mine have.

If feasting your eyes on one Group C Porsche is impressive, seeing 15 in one place is unbelievable. That is however exactly what happened at this year's 2011 Salon Prive event in London. This impressive gathering of Group C Porsches is truly spectacular and represents a significant portion of the company's racing…